Zen time for Bafana Bafana

Bafana must mind their own business in Nelspruit. There's a reasonable fear in the home camp that Egypt's under-23s will somehow succumb to Niger, thus nullifying a South African victory over Sierra Leone.

But there's much more reason to fear the opposite scenario: Egypt's youngsters beat or hold Niger as required, but Bafana draw or lose to the muscular, street-smart Leone Stars. In that event, Pitso Mosimane's troops will not even have a hope of qualifying through the back door as one of the best-placed runners-up.

So all discussion of developments in Cairo should be banned this week: our boys must hear the sound of one hand klapping. There is no room for complacency. Bafana know they were lucky to snatch a draw in Freetown last year - Itumeleng Khune secured the point single-handedly with a string of wonder saves.

In the interim, the visitors' coach, Lars-Olof Mattsson, has steered his charges to two home victories, over Niger and Egypt. The Leone Stars can qualify with a victory, so they will not lack for commitment. They build them tough in the land of blood diamonds.

As always, Mosimane will depend heavily on Katlego Mphela. The Sundowns striker will surely get the service he needs, especially now that Reneilwe Letsholonyane is back in the engine room.

To be fair to Mosimane and Bafana, they have done little wrong in this campaign. But such is the intensity of African football these days that just one poor performance - like last month's blowout in Niamey - can scupper an entire qualification campaign.

That said, it would be a travesty of justice should Bafana win on Saturday and still fail to qualify. The rules that Caf uses to rank the best runners-up are badly flawed - and no matter what transpires this weekend, Safa should complain to the continental body.

In the current qualification system, two places have been set aside for the two best runners-up. Bafana have eight points at present, and would reach a tally of 11 with a victory over the Leone Stars. If Caf's rules were fair, this total would give them a healthy chance of claiming one of the two runners-up slots in the event that Niger topped the group by beating Egypt in Cairo.

The problem is in Group F. Mauritania dropped out of the race before it began, leaving just three teams: Burkina Faso, Gambia and Namibia. Whenever this happens Caf, in a clumsy effort to ensure fairness for the runner-up of the reduced group, disregards all the points garnered by the other runners-up against bottom-placed teams when calculating the runners-up rankings.

In Bafana's case, this means the four hard-earned points garnered against fourth-placed Egypt effectively vanish into the ether. Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Cameroon have been similarly prejudiced. Sudan are currently leading the runners-up table, but they would also have cause to complain if they were lying third, because they have had more points discarded (six against Swaziland) than other contenders.

Every point should count. Fairness for the runners-up in any three-team group could be ensured by granting them a play-off against the No2 side in the runners-up rankings. A direct contest would be much fairer than the system as it stands.